Pediatric Feeding Clinic

The Pediatric Feeding Clinic combines a multidisciplinary approach with occupational therapy and speech therapy to help children with problems eating.

We Can Help

The feeding clinic may be beneficial for pediatric patients that have been diagnosed with:

ADD/ADHD

Autism

Brain Injury

Cerebral palsy

Developmental delay

Down's Syndrome

Failure to thrive

Hearing Impairment

Muscular Dystrophy

Oral aversion

Spina Bifida

As well as those that are chronic problem feeders and picky eaters!

How Do I Begin?

If you are not currently seeing a pediatrician, you will need to set up an appointment. Once evaluated, the pediatrician will make a recommendation if it would be beneficial to see the Feeding Clinic team. Once referred, you will receive a packet of information to fill out and return. The patient will be evaluated by the entire team and recommendations for treatment will be made. Treatment can be performed at Floyd Valley Hospital in the Sensory/Feeding Room by the specially trained therapists.

Treatments

The Pediatric Feeding Clinic therapists are certified in the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) feeding approach. The SOS Approach to Feeding is a multidisciplinary program for assessing and treating children with feeding and weight/growth difficulties. It has been developed over the course of 15 years through the clinical work of Dr. Kay Toomey, in conjunction with colleagues from several different disciplines including: Pediatricians, Occupational Therapists, Registered Dieticians and Speech Pathologists.

The program integrates sensory, motor, oral, behavioral/learning, medical and nutritional factors and approaches in order to comprehensively evaluate and manage children with feeding / growth problems. It is based on the “normal” developmental steps, stages and skills of feeding found in typically developing children. The treatment component of the program utilizes these typical developmental steps towards feeding to provide the tools necessary for children to progress with eating various textures. This will also allow them to grow at an appropriate rate for them. The assessment component of the program makes sure that all physical reasons for atypical feeding development are examined and appropriately treated medically. In addition, the SOS Approach works to identify any nutritional deficits and to develop recommendations as appropriate to each individual child’s growth parameters and needs. Skills across all developmental areas are also assessed with regards to feeding, as well as an examination of learning capabilities with regards to using the SOS program.